Week 62: Working Through Facebook

 Hey y'all! 

This week flew by! We were filled with activities each day and worked sooo hard. Here are some of the highlights.

Thursday and Friday we had service with a part member family in our ward. They are a super sweet older couple and we helped them move rocks and weed their gardens. Friday we also had burgers with them before service and it was lots of fun to spend time with them. We shared a couple spiritual thoughts too and it was an overall uplifting experience. 

Thursday we also had lunch with some super sweet ladies in our ward and it was a blast. One of the ladies is a classic grandma and was complaining about the millennials and all kinds of funny stuff. We were loving it. We then helped out mowing her lawn real quick to pay her back for the food. 

Yesterday we had a super uplifting zone conference. It was filled with spiritual messages with a huge emphasis on Facebook work, and more specifically working with members of the church through social media. Something I really liked was the focus on being normal and natural on social media. President Fox stressed taking time to gain trust and talk about common interests before talking about the gospel. He said its okay to be patient and form connections with people we meet through Facebook. We have been trying to apply these principles and have been seeing a ton of success.

Love and miss you all!

Elder Anderson 

Week 61: Service + Member Visits

 Hey y'all! 

This week was a super awesome week. It was jam-packed with service and member visits and all that fun stuff. Here are the highlights. 

Wednesday while doing service for some members we got a call from a lady who we had messaged on Facebook after she said she needed help moving furniture. She asked if we could come up and move some furniture for her as soon as possible so as soon as we got done we headed up there and helped move furniture into a horse trailer for her. She was a super cool lady and we got the opportunity to share a spiritual thought with her. She then put us in contact with her neighbor, who we were then able to help set up a yard sale a few days later. They are great people and were very appreciative of our service.

We also headed into Austin Thursday for a trainer follow up meeting and for interviews with president and I got to see THE Elder Dalin Clark so that was definetly a highlight for sure. 

Other than that we have been doing some good work on Facebook and meeting a ton of the members. We got to go back to church on Sunday and it was way sweet. 

Love and miss you all! 

Elder Anderson

 

 

Week 60: General Conference

 Hey y'all! 

It was a great week here in Marble Falls wrapped up by an AMAZING General Conference Weekend! Here are the highlights.

This week we spent a ton of time meeting members and getting to know them and doing some service as well. Tuesday we went and gave a blessing to an older member who recently broke his leg. It was a good experience and he was super glad to see us and chat with us. Wednesday we visited a few newer members of the church and had dinner with them and were able to teach them a bit too. Since COVID restrictions have been lifted a little bit we have been able to do a lot more in person work which is something I really had been missing. We did some drop bys too to some families in the ward and had some good conversations. We continue our efforts on social media as well and have had a decent amount of success reaching out to local people in the community. 

But the highlight of the week was definitely conference! Such a great two days of hearing from the Lord's prophet and apostles. I don't think there was one single talk that I wasn't totally blown away by. One of my favorite talks was by Elder Soares about resisting temptation. I love how we compared temptation to a magnet and said that "as we distance ourselves from temptation it loses its power over us". I think that's so true and something that is so important for our day. Satan is sending all of his tactics on us now and he is in all parts of our life. However if we distance ourselves from common spots of temptation, we will gain strength and he will not have power over us. 

I am so grateful to have a prophet and apostles on the earth who lead and guide us! Love and miss you all!

Elder Anderson

Also here's my new address :)

1301 Max Copeland Dr #615

Marble Falls, TX 78654

 

 

Week 59: New Greenie Elder Hunt

 Hey y'all! 

Its been a crazy week! This week we had new missionaries come in Wednesday and Thursday so things were pretty nuts. Here are the highlights.

Wednesday we said goodbye to the two other elders in our apartment as they got transfered to other parts of Austin. We had a cool visit with a less active member in the ward and then got back to welcome the two new elders to our apartment.

Thursday morning we had service at the Wildflower Center, picking and trimming weeds. We then headed home and got things prepared to go pick up our trainees. I said goodbye to the old Hill Country apartment and headed out. My trainee is Elder Hunt, a really cool guy from Richfield, Utah. He likes to hunt and fish and is just out of high school. He was originally called to Paraguay and will be here until he can head there. 

From the trainee meeting we got our car and made the hour drive to Marble Falls! Our area is huge and covers 5 of the nearby towns as well so we have been busy! We are the 3rd set of missionaries in Marble Falls which complicates things a little bit but we have made it work. We have began our efforts on Facebook and have also started getting in contact with the ward and meeting them. Saturday we also had service, helping one of the sisters move out of her house. I really like the vibes here in Marble Falls and its so different to where I was in Austin before. There are a ton of ranchers and a lot of spanish speakers as well which has been nice. Starting brand new to an area is tough but we know the Lord will help us out!! 

Love and miss you all! 

Elder Anderson 

Week 58: Transferring Up North

 Hey y'all! 

Transfer news came out this week and I'm moving AGAIN. I am heading to the northern side of Austin and will be serving in Marble Falls, TX. I will be training again and so we will be entering in whitewash (two new missionaries) into the area. Elder Davenport will also be training so I will get to see my new grandson when I pick up my new son. Crazy times! 

Since coming to the Austin mission this will be my 3rd area in 3 transfers, my 3rd companion in 3 transfers and the 3rd time entering in whitewash in 3 transfers. For those of you who aren't aware, that's pretty unusual, but hey, we live in unusual times at the moment. I am excited for the new start and the chance to train another missionary in the work and teach him what I know! 

Anyways this week was one of my favorite ones yet, we did a ton of service and had a ton going on every day. We did a lot of working trimming bushes and helping out a family who just barely moved here to Austin. We found this family through our service ad on Facebook a while ago and were really able to help them out how they needed it. Service is the best way to soften someone's heart so go out and do some service today! With the members of the ward we have been making a ministering plan with them and it's awesome to see the things they come up with to serve. Even the littlest effort can go the longest way. 

Love and miss you all! 

Elder Anderson

 

 

Week 57: Staying in Hill Country

 Hey y'all! 

This week was pretty good! Transfers were just announced and Elder Davenport and I will be sticking around for a little while longer. We are looking forward to continuing to work in the Hill Country Ward and continuing to develop relationships with the people here. Here are some of the highlights from the past week. 

Tuesday we had a little English class with the friend of one of the members in the ward. She already knows english but needs help becoming more proficient in the language. We went through one of the BYU pathways lessons, did some activities and then gave her feedback. We are now going to meet weekly with her and she might bring some friends as well. 

Thursday morning we had service at the Wildflower Center. Basically it's a zoo for plants and stuff but it's really cool. We helped take care of some weeds and as we were finishing up we got hit with one of those classic Texas rainstorms and were stranded for a bit. We eventually made our way back haha. 

We also have been putting together a list of some Part Member Families and families we can reach out to and then contacting people in the ward to get feedback on how to minister to them. It's been good and has opened a lot of doors for us. The members are super helpful and have given us a ton to work with. Safe to say we are excited to see what happens in the coming weeks! 

Love and miss you all,

Elder Anderson 

 

 

Week 56: Finding People (and Rats)

 Hey y'all! 

Things are moving along here in Austin! We had a ton of good things going on and are really starting to hit our stride in the Hill Country Ward. Starting as two brand new missionaries always starts pretty slow but the work always picks up quickly. This week we had some great service opportunities and had some good lessons as well. One of these opportunities was with a Sister that had just barely come back to the church right before covid hit. She had been inactive for a while and has two boys who haven't been baptized. The other day she asked us to build some desks for them as they start their school year online. So we came over and built desks and chatted with them and they are the coolest little kids ever. We talked about basketball and video games and it was a great time. Even though covid prevents us from holding too many activities we hope to keep getting to know them better. 

In another service we helped cut down vines for a family in their backyard. While we were working their dog started digging at something underneath a pile of tin. So we decided to help the dog out and lifted up the tin just so the dog could chase after and pounce on a previously safe and protected rat. It was pretty insane. Then the dog decided to flex his kill on us for the rest of the service. We did get some pics with it though. 

This week we also had Zone Conference! It was so much fun spending time with President and Sister Fox, they are seriously my favorite people ever. We talked a ton about the future of missionary work and things like that. It was super uplifting. The APs challenged us at one point to spend more time outside than we do inside and so we decided to implement that in our schedule and it totally worked. For planning or studying or online stuff we can do on our phones we would go to the park and had some great conversations with people just by being there. People are desperate to know more about the gospel we just have to get out there and talk to them! While in person contact is undoubtedly limited, I know that the Lord will put in our path people who need the gospel at this time with the outside activities we will have. 

Anyways that's it for the week!! Love and miss you all!

Elder Anderson